Purchase will preserve Bolivar Peninsula wetlands

Land on the Bolivar Peninsula has been called the cradle of the bay, helping keep the Gulf healthy.

Land on the Bolivar Peninsula has been called the cradle of the bay, helping keep the Gulf healthy.

Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff

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The beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar Peninsula for a wildlife preserve. less

The beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar ... more

Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

Image 3 of 6

A bird flies over the vegetation near the beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar Peninsula for a wildlife preserve. less

A bird flies over the vegetation near the beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped ... more

Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

Image 4 of 6

The beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar Peninsula for a wildlife preserve. less

The beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar ... more

Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

Image 5 of 6

A vehicle drives along highway 87 near High Island Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar Peninsula for a wildlife preserve. less

A vehicle drives along highway 87 near High Island Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar ... more

Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

Image 6 of 6

A bird flies over the vegetation near the beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped land near High Island on Bolivar Peninsula for a wildlife preserve. less

A bird flies over the vegetation near the beach along highway 87 near High Island is shown Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, in Bolivar. A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres of undeveloped ... more

Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

Purchase will preserve Bolivar Peninsula wetlands

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GALVESTON - A conservation group on Friday completed the purchase of 1,350 acres on the Bolivar Peninsula, preserving one of its last remaining large tracts of undeveloped land.

The $3.8 million purchase by the Conservation Fund for Texas secures vital habitat for migrating birds and will permanently protect important wetlands, associated tidal flats, subtidal ponds and Gulf Coast beachfront, said Jim Suydam, spokesman for the Texas General Land Office.

The purchased land spans the peninsula from the Gulf of Mexico to Galveston Bay and "will help protect one of the largest undeveloped tracts on Bolivar permanently," Suydam said.

The wetlands, known as estuarine emergent wetlands, are particularly important.

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"Estuaries are basically the cradle of the bay," Suydam said. "That's where shrimp and fish start their life cycle. To have a healthy estuary system means we will have a healthy Gulf of Mexico."

The land office provided $2.6 million from offshore drilling royalties to help the Conservation Fund purchase the most valuable 350 acres. The remainder came from a fund financed through stamps purchased by duck hunters under the North American Conservation Act, said Andy Jones, Conservation Fund director.

"It was a priority to pick this up and add it to the wildlife system," Jones said. "It has huge potential for ecotourism."

The Conservation Fund hopes to acquire an additional 1,264 acres next year, Jones said. The fund hopes to use money from the settlement reached with BP over environmental damage resulting from a blowout at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in 2010. Jones said the section of the peninsula purchased by the Conservation Fund is the only part of the Texas Gulf Coast where oil from the worst oil spill in U.S. history washed ashore.

The Conservation Fund plans to transfer the entire 1,350 acres to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to become part of the 34,000-acre Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.

Tim Cooper, a Fish and Wildlife Service project manager, said the property contains relatively untouched coastal marsh that is a rapidly dwindling habitat for migratory and coastal birds. The upper Texas coast lies along a migratory route taken by a variety of birds that must cross a vast stretch of the Gulf as they fly from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The birds need habitat where they can rest and find food.

Hurricane Ike in 2008 caused property values on the peninsula to plummet, prompting a company that had planned to develop the site to put it on the market. The company agreed to sell to the Conservation Fund in 2009.